{"id":5893,"date":"2018-12-28T08:16:07","date_gmt":"2018-12-28T13:16:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/?p=5893"},"modified":"2018-12-28T08:16:07","modified_gmt":"2018-12-28T13:16:07","slug":"did-jesus-sort-people","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/2018\/12\/did-jesus-sort-people\/","title":{"rendered":"Did Jesus “Sort” People?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Did Jesus \u201cSort\u201d People?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

According to a mainline Protestant pastor, writing a guest column in a local newspaper, there is \u201coverwhelming evidence\u201d that Jesus did not require faith statements from individuals. The essay is pointedly against \u201csorting\u201d people\u2014even within churches. According to this seminary-trained pastor, Jesus simply accepted people with love and so should the churches. Atheists and agnostics are mentioned\u2014as people who should be included within churches.<\/p>\n

The thrust of the column, as I interpret it, is that Jesus did not categorize people but simply loved them as they were\u2014each individual being different in his or her own way. The church should follow Jesus in doing the same.<\/p>\n

This is a message I have heard most of my adult life\u2014especially from liberal-leaning (\u201cinclusive\u201d and \u201cprogressive\u201d) Protestants. My one and only interest here is to examine whether it is true that Jesus was a liberal-leaning religious leader who didn\u2019t \u201csort\u201d people but was simply \u201cgenuine and loving\u201d with all people regardless of their beliefs.<\/p>\n

*Sidebar: The opinions expressed here are my own (or those of the guest writer); I do not speak for any other person, group or organization; nor do I imply that the opinions expressed here reflect those of any other person, group or organization unless I say so specifically. Before commenting read the entire post and the \u201cNote to commenters\u201d at its end.*<\/em><\/p>\n

In 2008 Baker (publisher) published a book by Mark Galli (then lead editor of Christianity Today<\/em>) and Eugene Peterson (author many books including The Message<\/em>) entitled Jesus Mean and Wild: The Unexpected Love of an Untamable God<\/em>. The point of the book was, as the title indicates, that Jesus was not<\/em> a \u201cnice\u201d person in our contemporary sense of \u201cnice.\u201d He did categorize people according to their responses to other people and to himself and his message.<\/p>\n

The overwhelming evidence of Scripture is that Jesus was not a liberal-leaning, progressive, inclusive Protestant. Anyone who reads the Gospels honestly cannot miss Jesus\u2019s harsh treatment of many people: the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the scribes and teachers of the law, and virtually anyone who began to follow him and then turned away. The evidence for Jesus\u2019s \u201csorting\u201d of people is so overwhelming in the Gospels that anyone who attempts to say otherwise is obviously overlying them with their own ideology of \u201cnice religion.\u201d<\/p>\n

Many years ago Albert Schweitzer said of the liberal Protestant searchers for the \u201chistorical Jesus\u201d or \u201cJesus of history\u201d that they looked down the deep well of history for Jesus and saw their own faces looking back at them. Albert Schweitzer may have also been wrong about who and what Jesus was, but he got it right about the liberal Protestants who wanted to portray Jesus as like themselves. (Schweitzer thought Jesus was a deluded apocalyptic prophet.)<\/p>\n

Now, I will agree with the pastor who wrote the column in question (and many like her) that atheists, agnostics, and all kinds of doubters should be welcome in our churches. \u201cSigning\u201d a doctrinal statement should not be a prerequisite to attending church and receiving loving care. However, insofar as they mean that the church should not \u201csort\u201d or categorize people in leadership positions, well, that\u2019s another kettle of fish. A church that has no boundaries for leadership is useless.<\/p>\n

\u201cSorting\u201d people often gets out of hand and can be abusive. Both fundamentalists and liberals both do it. It\u2019s not as if even the column-writer doesn\u2019t sort people. She sorts people into at least two categories\u2014those who \u201csort\u201d and those who (allegedly like Jesus) \u201cdon\u2019t sort.\u201d There\u2019s really no getting away from sorting. We should strive to get \u201csorting\u201d right\u2014following Jesus\u2019s example. People who heard his message, which absolutely did include himself as the inaugurator of God\u2019s Kingdom, and rejected it were excluded. People who thought they were righteous because of their own good works apart from God\u2019s grace were excluded. People who oppressed the weak and powerless were excluded.<\/p>\n

My point here is not to single out liberal-leaning Protestants like the column-writer as the only people who attempt to create Jesus in their own image and likeness. All kinds of Christians and non-Christians do the same\u2014in different ways and to different degrees. Jesus does not fit any of our human-made categories, but he most definitely was not a non-sorter who just accepted everyone as they were without judgment or expectation of change. And a church that does the same\u2014especially with regard to leaders and teachers\u2014would be pathetic if it actually existed. So far I have not ever found one that really does that.<\/p>\n

Years ago I had a self-identified liberal Protestant pastor speak to my classes\u2014about what it means to be a liberal Christian. He emphasized that his church was inclusive of all kinds of people without judging them. A bright and insightful student asked him what he would do if a real fundamentalist wanted to join his church. Without hardly thinking he said he would help the person find a more appropriate church to join.<\/p>\n

*Note to commenters:<\/em> This blog is not a discussion board; please respond with a question or comment only to me. If you do not share my evangelical Christian perspective (very broadly defined), feel free to ask a question for clarification, but know that this is not a space for debating incommensurate perspectives\/worldviews. In any case, know that there is no guarantee that your question or comment will be posted by the moderator or answered by the writer. If you hope for your question or comment to appear here and be answered or responded to, make sure it is civil, respectful, and \u201con topic.\u201d Do not comment if you have not read the entire post and do not misrepresent what it says. Keep any comment (including questions) to minimal length; do not post essays, sermons or testimonies here. Do not post links to internet sites here. This is a space for expressions of the blogger\u2019s (or guest writers\u2019) opinions and constructive dialogue among evangelical Christians (very broadly defined).<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Did Jesus \u201cSort\u201d People? According to a mainline Protestant pastor, writing a guest column in a local newspaper, there is \u201coverwhelming evidence\u201d that Jesus did not require faith statements from individuals. The essay is pointedly against \u201csorting\u201d people\u2014even within churches. According to this seminary-trained pastor, Jesus simply accepted people with love and so should the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":58,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5893","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nDid Jesus "Sort" People?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Did Jesus \u201cSort\u201d People? 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